26 Weeks Pregnant!

Owen's movements are changing this week - I can clearly feel his head which is often in my hip or his little feet against my left hip. He usually likes to snuggle against my right side and I'm loving being able to feel him more definitely now. He seems to have his own little schedule of activeness...being really jumpy as soon as I open my eyes, mid-morning, early evening, and before I go to bed. I'm enjoying "predicting" his movements. He doesn't seem to respond to music like Adrian did at this point but I've still been playing to him. He does move to music, but not to the level that Adrian did. 

We had our first trip to Labor and Delivery this week. I have had sciatic nerve pain that was pretty unbelievable with Adrian, but I don't really remember having it until after 30 weeks or so. It has been pretty terrible with Owen so far these past few weeks. On Thursday, I started having aching pains in my right leg which is pretty normal, and then it continued into my thigh/shin bone and then into my foot, making my toes numb. Eventually my right hip went numb with shooting pain in my lower right back and then stretching to the left side. After a few hours I had constant shooting pain down both legs and in my hips. Owen was moving a lot but I was genuinely concerned that I might be dilating or something. We decided to got L&D after calling my doctor and being encouraged to do so. They put me on the monitor for an hour or so and I had no contractions. I learned that this is going to be my "normal" until the end of pregnancy. 

It's starting to get difficult to do every day things since my legs go numb from sitting in the same position for over 3 or 4 minutes, I can barely walk, and am having a lot of trouble sleeping. I'm praying for the Lord to help me change my attitude from feeling overwhelmed to feeling deep acceptance. The pain is truly ridiculous, and I'm reminding myself how quickly I bounced back from this pain with Adrian and that these next 14 weeks are going to go by so so fast and then baby Owen will be here!

I know that this is fleeting, and I'm thankful for the Lord's sweet daily mercies that keep reminding me how trivial this "big" thing is in the large scheme of things.  

It's not THAT bad. 

And. 

It's going to be so so so worth it.

Isaiah 40: 28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint".